My dad saw this strange plant on his usual morning "walk" on the hill at Ampang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. He took some snap shots with his digital camera and show it to me back home. I was very interested with this strange looking flower so I decided to go to the place myself on that evening to grab a some shots on this interesting looking flower.

The size of a palm...

The scientific name of the flower is Tacca integrifolia, also name as "White Bat Flower". In Chinese, it's called "Tiger Whisker" (Direct translation from Chinese, 老虎须). What an coincidence that this is also the whisker of an animal. Some details I found on the internet regarding this strange looking flower:

Extracted from http://species.widimedia.org/wiki/Tacca_integrifolia

I have extracted the following information from http://www.rareflora.com/taccachanwhite.htm:

1. They can be picky sometimes regarding their environmental conditions. When they like the conditions, they grow, flower a lot, and even produce babies. When something is not right, they slowly decline and eventually die. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to know if you can provide them the right conditions is by trying.
2. They like shade, and good air circulation.
3. They don't like too much heat and air that is too dry.
4. Don't like to be rootbounded.
5. The soil should be a little acidic.

• FAMILY : Taccaceae
• ORIGIN : India
• SIZE : 30"
• LIGHT REQUIREMENTS : shade
• WATER REQUIREMENTS : keep moist but do not soak
• MIN. TEMP. : 50°
• FLOWER : fall
• COMMENTS : Don't let it dry out, protect from wind

My dad just told me that they found a green and white flower. I will see if I have the chance to check it out and share more photos.